Examining father adolescent relationships and academic performance among singaporean chinese adolescents

Fathers' Parenting Behaviours and the Father-Adolescent 10 Relationship Measurement Invariance and Age Differences 13 Measures of Paternal Behaviour 30 Measures of Father-Adolescent Re

PATERNAL BEHAVIOURS AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT: EXAMINING FATHER-ADOLESCENT RELATIONSHIPS AND ACADEMIC

PERFORMANCE AMONG SINGAPOREAN CHINESE ADOLESCENTS

CHAN MEI YEN (Bac.Sc (Hons), University Putra Malaysia)

A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WORK AND PSYCHOLOGY

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

2003

I am also indebted to my parents for their love, support and encouragement throughout

my study in NUS Thank you mum and dad for showing me how to live an honorable life of perseverance and courage

My deepest gratitude must be given to The Ministry of Education, the principals, principals, teachers, students and their fathers of Riverside Secondary School,

vice-Woodgrove Secondary School, Woodlands Ring Secondary School, Bukit View

Primary School, Jurong West Primary School and Woodgrove Primary School for their assistance and participation in my research Their cooperation, trust and genuineness have made my research process a most enjoyable and memorable one

I also wish to acknowledge the contribution of my sister in-law, Ms Ooi Chooi Foon and the masters group for their extraordinary work in translating the questionnaire Last but not least, to my husband, Wee Tang, for his unfailing support, patience and concern as it has been a source of strength and motivation for me throughout the entire course of my research

Fathers' Parenting Behaviours and the Father-Adolescent 10 Relationship

Measurement Invariance and Age Differences 13

Measures of Paternal Behaviour 30

Measures of Father-Adolescent Relationship 32 Measures of School-Related Paternal Behaviour 34 Measures of Academic Performance 35

Measure of Self-Efficacy 35

Testing Measurement Invariance across Age Groups 39

Testing Measurement Invariance across Source of Report 51

Summary of Invariance Testing across Source of Report 60

Mean, Standard Deviation and Intercorrelations 61

Testing Measurement Invariance across Age Groups 69

Summary of Invariance Testing 73 Testing Measurement Invariance across Source of Report 74

Summary of Invariance Testing across Source of Report 77 Mean, Standard Deviation and Intercorrelations 77

Measurement Invariance Across Source of Report 89

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Demographic Characteristics of Adolescents 25 Table 2: Demographic Characteristics of Fathers 26 Table 3: Measurement Invariance of Warmth across 12-year-old Adolescents 40

(N=250) and 15-year-old Adolescents (N=251)

Table 4: Measurement Invariance of Autonomy-Granting across 12-year-old 42 Adolescents (N=250) and 15-year-old Adolescents (N=251)

Table 5: Measurement Invariance of Behavioural Control across 12-year-old 42 Adolescents (N=250) and 15-year-old Adolescents (N=251)

Table 6: Measurement Invariance of Attachment across 12-year-old Adolescents 43

(N=250) and 15-year-old Adolescents (N=251)

Table 7: Measurement Invariance of Satisfaction across 12-year-old Adolescents 45

(N=250) and 15-year-old Adolescents (N=251)

Table 8: Measurement Invariance of Warmth across Fathers of 12-year-old 46

Adolescents (N=209) and Fathers of 15-year-old Adolescents (N=195)

Table 9: Measurement Invariance of Autonomy-Granting across Fathers of 46

12-year-old Adolescents (N=209) and Fathers of 15-year-old

Adolescents (N=195)

Table 10: Measurement Invariance of Behavioural Control across Fathers of 47

12-year-old Adolescents (N=209) and Fathers of 15-year-old

Adolescents (N=195)

Table 11: Measurement Invariance of Attachment across Fathers of 12-year-old 48

Adolescents (N=209) and Fathers of 15-year-old Adolescents (N=195)

Table 12: Measurement Invariance of Satisfaction across Fathers of 12-year-old 48

Adolescents (N=209) and Fathers of 15-year-old Adolescents (N=195)

Table 13: Measurement Invariance of Warmth across Adolescents' Report and 51

Fathers' Report (12 years old)

Table 14: Measurement Invariance of Autonomy-Granting across Adolescents' 52

Report and Fathers' Report (12 years old)

Table 15: Measurement Invariance of Behavioural Control across Adolescents' 52

Report and Fathers' Report (12 years old)

Table 16: Measurement Invariance of Attachment across Adolescents' Report 54

and Fathers' Report (12 years old)

Table 17: Measurement Invariance of Satisfaction across Adolescents' Report 55

and Fathers' Report (12 years old)

Table 18: Measurement Invariance of Warmth across Adolescents' Report 56

and Fathers' Report (15 years old)

Table 19: Measurement Invariance of Autonomy-Granting across Adolescents' 57

Report and Fathers' Report (15 years old)

Table 20: Measurement Invariance of Behavioural Control across Adolescents' 57

Report and Fathers' Report (15 years old)

Table 21: Measurement Invariance of Attachment across Adolescents' Report 58

and Fathers' Report (15 years old)

Table 22: Measurement Invariance of Satisfaction across Adolescent' Report 60

and Fathers' Report (15 years old)

Table 23: Means, Standard Deviations, and Intercorrelations of Variables across 61 Age Groups based on Adolescent-reported Data for Model 1

Table 24: Means, Standard Deviations, and Intercorrelations of Variables across 62 Age Groups based on Father-reported Data for Model 1

Table 25: Testing Structural Model based on Adolescents' Reported Data 64 Table 26: Testing Structural Model based on Fathers' Reported Data 67

Table 27: Measurement Invariance of Involvement across 12-year-old 69

Adolescents (N=250) and 15-year-old Adolescents (N=251)

Table 28: Measurement Invariance of Strictness across 12-year-old 70

Adolescents (N=250) and 15-year-old Adolescents (N=251)

Table 29: Measurement Invariance of Involvement Fathers of 12-year-old 71

Adolescents (N=209) and Fathers of 15-year-old Adolescents (N=195)

Table 30: Measurement Invariance of Strictness Fathers of 12-year-old 72

Adolescents (N=209) and Fathers of 15-year-old Adolescents (N=195)

Table 31: Measurement Invariance of Involvement across Adolescents' Report 74

and Fathers' Report (12 years old)

Table 32: Measurement Invariance of Strictness across Adolescents' Report 75

and Fathers' Report (12 years old)

Table 33: Measurement Invariance of Involvement across Adolescents' Report 75

and Fathers' Report (15 years old)

Table 34: Measurement Invariance of Strictness across Adolescents' Report 76

and Fathers' Report (15 years old)

Table 35: Means, Standard Deviations, and Intercorrelations of Variables across 78 Age Groups based on Adolescent-reported Data for Model 2

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Adolescent-reported data Path coefficient for adolescent 12-year- 66

olds appear and 15-year-olds for warmth and behavioural control to

attachment and to satisfaction are the same while path coefficient for autonomy-granting-attachment and autonomy-granting-satisfaction

for adolescent 12-year-olds appear inside parentheses and path

coefficient for adolescent 15-year-olds appear outside parentheses;

* p<.05

Figure 2: Father-reported data Path coefficient for fathers of the 12-year- 68

olds and path coefficient for fathers of the 15-year-olds are the

same; *p<.05

Figure 3: Testing mediation-Adolescent-reported data Path coefficient 81 for adolescent 12-year-olds and path coefficient for adolescent

15-year-olds are the same

Figure 4: Testing mediation Path coefficient for father of the 12-year-olds and 83

path coefficient for fathers of the 15-year-olds are the same

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

This report presents two models that were conducted to examine how father behaviours are related to particular adolescent characteristics In the first model, I examined how father behaviours were related to aspects of the father-adolescent

relationship, focusing on attachment to fathers and satisfaction with the

father-adolescent relationship In the second model, I examined how specific father behaviours were related to adolescents' academic performance

While there is much research focusing on the mother-adolescent relationship, the study of the father-adolescent relationship has been underrepresented A review of the literature by Phares and Compas (1992) noted that approximately 48% of the studies

in eight leading journals of child and adolescent research between 1984 and 1991 were mainly exploring the mother-adolescent relationship, while only 1% of the studies examined the father-adolescent relationship Hosley and Montemayor (1997) has

therefore stated that the study of father-adolescent relationship is still in its infancy Generally, what is known thus far is that the adolescent's relationship with the father is more distant compared to the relationship with the mother, which emphasizes closeness and affection (Hosley & Montemayor, 1997)

The Freudian psychodynamic perspective provides a useful basis to start

understanding father-adolescent relationships It is assumed in this perspective that the

bonding between father and adolescent occurs during the puberty stage, when fathers tend to exercise excessive control over the sexual instincts of their adolescents (Neven, 1996) According to Freud's theory, both boys and girls enter an Oedipal crisis during the phallic stage, whereby they begin to have fantasies towards their opposite-sex parent A boy, for example, would somehow spin fantasies, react aggressively, and create intimacy towards his mother However, over time, the boy is able to resolve the oedipal predicament through the internalizing superego—an inner voice that reprimands and restrains "bad" acts Girls' oedipal experiences are somewhat more complicated than boys (Crain, 1992)

With the onset of puberty, boys and girls begin the task of freeing themselves from their parents (Crain, 1992) Because biological changes have social stimulus value, responses between parents and children become affected and therefore alter the parent-adolescent interaction pattern (Paikoff & Brooks-Gunn, 1991) Both Paikoff and

Brooks-Gunn also state that adolescents' and parents' behaviours are affected by puberty status, especially when secondary sex characteristics appear According to the model of how physical development affects the parent-adolescent relationship (Paikoff &

Brooks-Gunn, 1991), the father-adolescent relationship changes with puberty

development as the level of assertiveness on the part of fathers increases and sons decreases On the other hand, girls' perception of their fathers' acceptance decreases when they are in or near menarche During puberty, sexual desires that existed during the phallic stage reemerge, but this time the sexual desires are directed towards opposite sex peers In this regard, boys would imitate fathers' behaviours while girls would imitate mothers' behaviours Parents therefore become role models for their children

Overall, Freud's theory suggests that the father-adolescent relationship takes on

different forms and entails different processes depending on the age or developmental stage of the child

Another framework useful for understanding the father-adolescent relationship

is in terms of roles Existing literature suggests that there are important differences between fathers' and mothers' parenting roles (Hosley & Montemayor, 1997)

According to studies on the fathering role, fathers are expected to provide for their children and exert discipline (Atkinson & Blackwelder, 1993; Hosley & Montemayor, 1997) Mothers, on the other hand, are the primary caregiver to the child Although there is agreement that fathers are expected to be involved as parents, Berk (1985) demonstrated that fathers still do relatively little child-care duties, are less emotionally involved, and enjoy child-care less than mothers However, Atkinson and Blackwelder (1993) note that there is an increased interest in fatherhood; instead of filling an

unidimensional role in their families, fathers now play a number of significant roles, such as being companions, care providers, models, teachers, in addition to being

breadwinners and disciplinarians (Lamb, 1997)

Hosley and Montemayor's (1997) review of research on the father-adolescent relationship found that most researchers have mainly focused on five major

characteristics: time spent together, communication and involvement, closeness,

conflict, and power These dimensions of the father-adolescent relationship reflect in some ways the instrumental but emotionally distant role that fathers play in the lives of their adolescents From their review, Hosley and Montemayor (1997) concluded that fathers are not as influential as mothers in most aspects of the parent-adolescent

relationship because fathers spend less time, have fewer conversations with their

adolescents, and are less intimate with and close to their adolescents

Model 1

Hosley and Montemayor’s (1997) review of the literature on the

father-adolescent relationship reveal that few researchers have looked at the father-father-adolescent relationship in terms of attachment and satisfaction This is somewhat surprising, given the emotionally distant characterization of the father-adolescent relationship and also given that the father-adolescent relationship, with its unremitting nature, is one of the strongest social ties (in that it is difficult to alter) available to individuals (Parsons & Bales, 1955) While dimensions such as time spent together, communication, and even power reveal some of the emotional content in the father-adolescent relationship, the affective quality of the father-adolescent relationship is itself seldom studied

The two affective aspects of attachment and satisfaction can converge to provide

a better understanding of the father-adolescent relationship On the one hand,

attachment concerns the overall quality of relationship based on the constellation of emotional experiences (Bowlby, 1982) On the other hand, satisfaction concerns the perception of the overall quality of relationship (Simons, Beaman, Conger & Chao, 1993) Given that Bowlby's (1982) attachment theory has offered much insight into the dynamic nature of parent-child relationships, it seems rather strange why the attachment aspect of the father-adolescent relationship has been largely neglected According to

Bowlby's theory, parent-child relationships vary in terms of the security of the bond Children who form secure attachment with their parents are better adjusted and are able

to survive in times of distress as parents serve as attachment figures (even if not

physically present) to help them overcome difficult times In times of low distress, parents of such children provide a secure base to support exploration of the surrounding environment, which takes on an added significance during adolescence as the

adolescent sets forth on a quest for identity (Erikson, 1963)

According to Erikson's psychosocial development, the quest for an identity is a developmental struggle for adolescence Adolescents may feel that they are growing so quickly and changing in so many ways that they barely recognize themselves Also, their rapid physical growth creates a sense of identity confusion The challenge then is

to work towards the establishment of an identity that can then guide their lives (Erikson, 1963) According to Steinberg and Silk (2002), this process of identity formation is healthiest when it occurs in the context of close parent-adolescent relationships In this sense, to complement an examination of how attached the adolescent is to his or her father, it is useful for researchers to also get a glimpse of how satisfied the adolescent is with his or her relationship with the father

Fathers' Parenting Behaviours

There is a long history of identifying dimensions of parenting which lead to positive outcomes in children Baumrind (1967) provided a first elaborate attempt to classify and thus study parenting In her typology of authoritative-authoritarian-

permissive parenting, she described some of the family niches that may occur around

parents' belief systems She also argued that high control characteristics of authoritative families should induce children to develop an independent and autonomous sense of self, which internalizes their parents' values However, Baumrind's typology has been criticized for contradicting attribution theory, which states that strong external controls undermine internalization Maccoby and Martin (1983) then merged Baumrind's

typology with earlier attempts to define parenting along two dimensions: responsiveness and demandingness Responsiveness has been equated with warmth by many

researchers while demandingness refers to parents' expectations and demands for

mature, responsible behaviour from the child While responsiveness and warmth are sometimes used interchangeably, Maccoby and Martin (1983) make a distinction

between them: Whether parental responsiveness be viewed as contingent reinforcement (meaning, presumely, that the parents are "shaping" the child by responding

differentially to desire and undesired behaviour), as providing control to the child, or merely as parental sensitivity and adaptation to the child's signals, states and needs, the concept differs importantly from that of warmth, which includes affection, praise when they are given contingently but also when they are given on the parent's impulse

regardless of the concurrent state, signals and behaviour of the child (p.39) Others also

argue that responsiveness may be related to, but is not synonymous with warmth Stewardt, 1973)

(Clark-Besides distinguishing responsiveness and warmth, it is equally important to distinguish the types of demandingness or what others call control Two forms of

demandingness have been identified: behavioural control and psychological control (Barber, Olsen & Shagle, 1994) Behavioural control incorporates parents' supervision

and interest in children's activities as well as teaching children that society is governed

by different rules and structures (Barber et al., 1994) Psychological control, on the other hand, involves parents' interference through psychological means (e.g., inducing guilt) to control their children's behaviour (Barber, 1996) Behavioural control is

generally related to positive outcomes such as academic success (Dornbusch, Ritter, Leiderman, Roberts & Fraleigh, 1987; Melby & Conger, 1996) while psychological control is related to negative outcomes (e.g., decreased competence) (Barber et al., 1994)

Maccoby and Martin (1983) noted that authoritative parenting (responsiveness and behavioural control) contributes most positively to child development because it involves a two-way process (give and take) in which parents listen to children, accept and recognize their individual developmental characteristics, while at the same time making demands that are age-appropriate and reasonable Youniss (1988) and Steinberg (1990) concluded that the effects of the combination of responsiveness and behavioural control (i.e., authoritative parenting) on adolescents are clear-cut and positive Although most literature reports on authoritative parenting focused on responsiveness rather than warmth, there is also literature stating that authoritative parenting also includes warmth

as one of the main component (Barber, 1994; Gray & Steinberg, 1999) Rather than looking at responsiveness, it may also be more interesting to examine warmth since it emphasizes more on positive treatment (being loved and accepted) and excludes

controlling elements found in responsiveness Furthermore, warmth has been found to

be related to particular outcomes as well; for instance, Maccoby and Martin (1983)

noted that warmth is a factor that would lead children to restrain aggressiveness toward parents

Baumrind's and Maccoby and Martin's style of authoritative parenting was derived with the child in mind In 1990, Steinberg introduced another dimension of authoritative parenting specific to adolescence He called this dimension 'psychological autonomy-granting' Psychological autonomy-granting reflects the extent to which parents encourage their adolescents to have their own beliefs and opinions as they make the developmental shift from dependence on parents to independent adulthood

According to Chen, Liu and Li (2000) and Steinberg (2001), psychological granting functions very much like warmth in that it provides a general protective factor However, beyond warmth, psychological autonomy-granting seems to have special benefits, such as protection against depression, anxiety, and other form of behavioural difficulties

autonomy-Interestingly, in recent years, Chinese parenting—especially Chinese fathers' parenting has become a topic of discussion This trend is being powered, at least in part, by the comparison of child-rearing between Western fathers and Chinese fathers (Ho, 1987) For instance, Western fathers often interact with the child like a playmate but Chinese fathers are involved in little play activities with children Unlike the

different roles commonly seen in Western fathers and mothers, the different roles that Chinese fathers and mothers play in child-rearing seems different as well (Wolf, 1970) Chinese fathers' principal duties are to provide economic support, moral instruction, and

a suitable inheritance for their children, while Chinese mothers provide a secure and loving environment in the home setting (Jankowiak, 1992) According to Lau, Lew,

Hau, Cheung and Berndt (1990), the Chinese proverb "strict father, kind mother"

implies that fathers as disciplinarians tend to exert greater control while mothers as caregivers manifest greater warmth Chao and Tseng (2002) noted that fathers are higher in control because they have to serve as an authority figure to ensure that

children achieve academically and socially, whereas mothers are higher in warmth because they have to provide emotional support to their children

The increase in research on Chinese parenting is also due to the different

interpretations and implications of Chinese parents scoring higher in authoritarian parenting—specifically in controlling behaviour compared to European-American parents (Chao, 1994) Chao (1994) attributed her findings to the different cultural

systems and values that may be at work among the Chinese For example, Chinese fathers' expressions of sentiments towards their children may be constrained by their traditional role as a strict disciplinarian who should "not encourage or tolerate emotional indulgence" (Jankowiak, 1992, p.347) It should be noted that Chao's work mainly concentrated on the Chinese in the United States Being a minority group in a country may affect parenting styles and behaviours For example, the lineage process (carrying

on the family name) is an important aspect of traditional Chinese parenting This may take on added significance if the Chinese are a minority group Chinese parents, and maybe fathers in particular, may thus be less warm and more controlling (e.g., in terms

of adolescent issues such as friendship selection, peer networking, and romantic

encounters) With issues such as the lineage process which may take on added salience for a minority group, whether Chao's findings hold true with a country where the

Chinese are a majority (e.g., Singapore) has largely been unexplored

Fathers' Parenting Behaviours and the Father-Adolescent Relationship

Parenting research has often examined parenting "effects" in terms of child and adolescent outcomes such as academic achievement (Dornbusch et al., 1987) Less has been done on how parenting behaviours are related to the parent-child relationship itself In the following section, I focus on the link between the three specific father-parenting dimensions of warmth, autonomy-granting, and behavioural control, and the two facets of attachment and satisfaction within the father-adolescent relationship

Aspelmeier & Contreras, 2000)

Like warmth, parental autonomy-granting has also been found to be associated with greater attachment to parents A study conducted on 713 Chinese 10th grade students in Hong Kong reported that these students are more attached to their parents when parents are more autonomy-granting (Lau & Cheung, 1987) Other studies on

parental autonomy-granting have also found positive effects on child outcomes such as academic achievement (Lin & Fu, 1990; Mattanah, 2001; Steinberg, 2002) The positive effects of psychological autonomy-granting, like warmth, can be understood in terms of attachment theory In attachment theory, the child transits from a security derived from parents' physical presence to parents' "psychological" presence, exemplified in

Bowlby's concept of the internal working model As the child transits into adolescence, the need to explore increases, while maintaining an appropriate level of attachment to parents Thus, psychological autonomy-granting can signal to the child that parents both recognize the need to individuate and, through psychological autonomy-granting, assure the child of a secure base in the event of distress

Behavioural control has been known to convey care It exemplifies the positive aspects of parenting, in that the parent inculcates in the child various behaviours that are acceptable, both to the family and often to society as well Chao and Tseng (2002) argued that this is how Asian adolescents perceive paternal control; that is, it reflects care and concern In 1987, Lau and Cheung found that behavioural control was

positively associated with parent-child attachment because of its functional nature (i.e., the control functions to teach children to be socially competent individuals) Such a functional nature of behavioural control is more acceptable to children, compared to the restrictive and dominating type of control The restrictive and dominating form of control (or psychological control) which does not allow the child to develop as an individual, has been found to be dysfunctional and negative (Lau & Cheung, 1987) Differentiation between behavioural control and psychological control may explain why there are inconsistent results in studies of the effects of control (e.g., Shek, 2000) Thus,

the literature suggests that paternal warmth, autonomy-granting and behavioural control should all be positively related to how attached adolescents are to their fathers

Satisfaction

Recently, Domitrovich and Bierman (2001) summarized that parental warmth is

an important source of influence on satisfaction with parent-adolescent relationship Shek's (2001) study involving a Chinese sample provides support that this applies to father behaviours: when fathers show warmth to their children, children are more likely

to report a satisfactory father-adolescent relationship One reason provided by Shek (2001) is that Chinese fathers are perceived as "yi jia zhi zhu" (master of the family), who do not express their emotions as much as mothers do Therefore, when fathers express warmth, children perceive such warmth as special, which contributes to greater satisfaction with the father-adolescent relationship

Psychological autonomy-granting has also been found to be related to

satisfaction A study conducted on 150 preadolescents and adolescents reported a link between increased paternal autonomy-granting and satisfaction with the relationship with fathers (Feldman & Gehring, 1988) In other words, adolescents who were given more autonomy tended to feel more satisfied with the relationship with their fathers Demo's (1992) study provides more general evidence that parental autonomy-granting is related to adolescents reporting satisfaction with their relationship with parents Such a sense of satisfaction that is linked to psychological autonomy-granting can be

understood in terms of the individuation process The granting of autonomy by fathers may indicate to the child a sensitivity on the part of fathers to the adolescent's

developmental need to become his or her own person Such recognition may minimize conflict, but more importantly facilitates the child becoming a person in his or her own right This in turn links to greater satisfaction with the father-adolescent relationship

According to a longitudinal study conducted in Hong Kong by Shek (2000), the father-adolescent relationship was described to be less satisfactory when father's control was high However, Rohner and Pettengill (1985) found that Korean youth were more satisfied with their relationship with fathers when the latter exercised control One possible reason for these inconsistent results is the conceptualization of control in these studies In Shek's study, control was operationalized in terms of punishment On the other hand, in Rohner and Pettengill's study, control was presented as a form of

conveying care and love Thus, when control is a means of conveying care and concern (i.e., behavioural control), there is a positive link to adolescents' satisfaction with the relationship with their fathers

In sum, like attachment, the literature suggests that paternal warmth, granting, and behavioural control would be positively related to satisfaction with the father-adolescent relationship

autonomy-Measurement Invariance and Age Differences

Research on parenting behaviour usually assumes that the behaviours being rated are the same for adolescents of different age groups On the other hand, there are reasons to expect that these behaviours may not mean the same thing to adolescents of different ages; that is, there may be a lack of equivalence of the construct across

different ages

Firstly, the recognition of adolescence as a transition stage from childhood to adulthood provides a logical assumption that the adolescents are consistently evolving biologically, cognitively, and even socially The individuation process probably stands

up as a good illustration of how such changes may result in parenting behaviour being viewed differently by the adolescents differently at different age Steinberg and Silk (2002) noted that the process of individuation across adolescence involves a gradual and progressive sharpening of one's sense of autonomy, competence, and separation from parents At the same time, more individuated adolescents are able to express their own opinions, even if there is disagreement Unlike younger adolescents (10-13 years old), older adolescents (14-18 years old) (Steinberg, 2002) may realize that their parents are real people rather than omniscient and omnipotent figures Thus, they are able to have a more accurate view of parents (Youniss & Smollar, 1985) and likely to point out their parents' weaknesses (Feldman & Gehring, 1988)

As adolescents develop their sense of self, they also want to have greater

involvement in discussing family affairs and making decisions (Steinberg & Silk, 2002) In terms of cognitive changes, adolescents are more likely than children to think about what is possible, to become multidimensional in thinking, and to see things as relative (Keating, 1990) Therefore, with changes in cognitive ability, adolescents are able to think for themselves why their parents behave in particular ways when

socializing them If they think that their parents' parenting objective is positive and for their own good, they would feel more attached and satisfied with their relationship with parents On the other hand, parents will find that adolescents are thinking more like adults and thus will begin to respect the jurisdiction (give authority to exercise power)

of their maturing child In view of this, parents are expected to grant more autonomy to their adolescents who are now more likely to follow social conventions (Steinberg & Silk, 2002)

Adolescents' developmental transitions within the social realm may also provide further argument on why paternal behaviour and relationship may be viewed differently across adolescence With the increasing opportunities in school activities and recreation outside the family setting as the adolescents grow older, adolescents interact less with parents and peers begin to influence their lives more (Savin-Williams & Berndt, 1990) Although peers can influence adolescents in positive ways (Mounts & Steinberg, 1995), the influence of peers may also lead adolescents to forgo parenting advice and family activities These adolescents may thus have different views of their parents' parenting practices compared to the younger adolescents who have yet to negotiate these social changes

The linkages between fathers' parenting behaviours and aspects of the adolescent relationship may thus differ for adolescents in different stages of

father-development As illustrated above, one parenting behaviour that may be particularly sensitive to the phase the adolescent is in autonomy-granting As Steinberg indicates, the issue of granting autonomy is particularly important for adolescence and even then, may require different levels (e.g., more autonomy being granted as the adolescent grows older) or possibly even different forms at the different phases of adolescence Some indication of this provided by several studies documenting that across adolescence, paternal practices are perceived to be less positive (i.e., less warm and less controlling) (Paulson & Sputa, 1996; Shek, 2000) Helsen, Vollebergh and Meeus (2000) also noted

that father-adolescent attachment becomes less positive in the transition from early adolescence to mid-adolescence, suggesting that older adolescents may view the

relationship differently from younger adolescents Feldman and Gehring (1988) also reported that father-adolescent attachment deteriorated from 9th grade to 12th grade

As there may be differences among adolescents across different ages, the present study examined two age groups, aged 12 and aged 15 The reasons for choosing the 12-year-olds and the 15-year-olds were mainly due to the fact that they were involved in different stages of cognitive and social development (Steinberg, 2002) Therefore, a comparison between these two age groups would provide a clearer understanding of the similarities or dissimilarities that may occur between them

Thus for model 1, there were two main hypotheses

• Hypothesis 1a states that paternal warmth, autonomy-granting and behavioural control would be positively related to attachment to fathers

• Hypothesis 1b states that paternal warmth, autonomy-granting and behavioural control would be positively related to satisfaction with the father-adolescent

relationship

As adolescents grow older, there is an expectation that the links between paternal

warmth, behavioural control, and autonomy-granting in particular, with attachment and satisfaction are to be different for the different age groups These differing links are expected as adolescents of different age groups may perceive and view things

differently from one another Therefore, in addition to the two main hypotheses, a third hypothesis was proposed for model 1:-

• Hypothesis 1c states that the links between paternal warmth, behavioural control, and autonomy-granting in particular, with attachment and satisfaction would differ

in such a way that the relationships differ in strength across the two adolescent age groups

Model 2

The inclusion of academic performance as an outcome variable in the second model is also particularly important in the study of adolescence in contemporary society because young people usually form their educational and occupational plans during adolescence (Steinberg, 2002) It is also known that good educational attainment

provides a basis for an individual's self-conceptions as well as other people's perception

of the individual (Featherman, 1980) For the Chinese, academic performance is very highly regarded and serves as a tool to bring honour to the family, as reflected in a statement by one of the parents in Chao's (1996, p.412) study:

In Chinese families, the child's personal academic achievement is the value and honour of the whole family If you fail school, you bring embarrassment to the family If you do good, you bring honour to the family and do not lose face A lot of value is placed on the child to do well for the family

Research documenting the above issues was mostly found in the Western literature However, such research is virtually rare in Singapore, especially the study on Chinese society

Fathers' Parenting Behaviour and Adolescents' Academic Performance

Chinese parents are rated as more authoritarian (reflecting unquestioning

obedience from children) and this style of parenting has been found to be associated with good school performance among Chinese adolescents (Chao, 1996; Dornbusch et al., 1987; Leung, Lau & Lam, 1998; Marsiglio, Amato & Day, 2000) In contrast, European-American adolescents demonstrate greater school achievement when parents show more warmth, democracy and encouragement (i.e., authoritative parenting)

(Steinberg, Elmen & Mounts, 1989) According to Chao (1994), the different parenting practices that predict academic performance for Chinese parents and European-

American parents is due to the fact that European-American do not share the same sociocultural traditions and values that have shaped the Chinese child-rearing concepts

of chiao shun or "training" For the European-American parents, the word "training" often evoked associations such as "militaristic" or "regimented" that were interpreted as negative But, for the Chinese, training contains the idea of teaching and educating their children in the appropriate behaviours

It has been documented that father's involvement with adolescents in general are mainly restricted to instrumental and problem solving discussions about topics such as academic performance and future educational plans (Youniss & Smollar, 1985)

Cooksey and Fondell (1996) examined the frequency with which fathers spend time with their children (e.g., how often they spent time with their children at home working

on a project or helping with reading and homework) The results showed that fathers who were involved with their children had children with better academic performance Lamb (1987) and Dubois, Eitel and Felner (1994) also report that paternal involvement

(such as having regular time together, giving emotional support, and school-related involvement) are very important to facilitate academic performance during the

transition from childhood to adolescence

Steinberg, Lamborn, Donbusch and Darling (1992) suggested that paternal strictness serve as one of the specific components of authoritativeness that contributes

to academic success They also added that paternal strictness was conceptually similar

to assertive control, a dimension of parental control discussed by Baumrind (1991b) In, Lamborn, Mounts, Steinberg and Dornbusch's (1991) study, they defined strictness as parental supervision and monitoring of the adolescent Interestingly, parental strictness

in Chinese families involves the notion of 'chiao shun' (training) and it is focused on the

child's ability to perform well in school (Chao, 1994) During training, parents are highly involved and supportive The idea of training their children and being a

supportive parents have therefore created the concept of 'guan' means 'to govern' (Chao,

1994) Back in 1973, Baumrind found that control strategies and discipline appeared to influence school achievement In recent years, paternal strictness has been found to be positively related to academic competence (Chen, Liu & Li, 2000)

Cultural comparison may also provide additional insights into understanding adolescents' academic performance Several studies have documented that Chinese parents value education more strongly compared to Western parents (Pang, 1991; Schneider & Lee, 1990) In addition, Chao's (2000) study reported that 80% of her Chinese parents were involved with their children's schoolwork, including tutoring them, assigning additional work, structuring and monitoring their time, while only 13%

of the Western parents reported doing the same The differentiation between Chinese

and Western parents' involvement in adolescents' academic activities may reflect the importance of adolescents' academic performance to Chinese society

Self-Efficacy as Mediating Variable

Previous studies have identified self-efficacy as a key mediator in determining

performance (Phillips & Gully, 1997) Because self-efficacy is 'concerned with

judgements of how well an individual can execute courses of action required to deal with prospective situations' (Bandura, 1982, p.122) and is thus construed as a more

proximal (i.e., task-and situation-specific) construct (Chen, Casper & Cortina, 2001), it can be expected to be an important mechanism through which paternal behaviours relate

to academic performance

In the study conducted by Feldmann, Martinenz-Pons and Shaham (1995), adolescents' perceived self-efficacy was related to their academic outcomes In addition, Lindley and Borgen (2002) also documented a similar finding that self-efficacy

positively predicted academic performance On the other hand, a study conducted by Erford (1995) on 386 volunteer students showed that students with fathers who are highly involved in their children's school matters are significantly more self-efficacious

In the same study conducted by Erford, students with fathers who are strict tend to display lower self-efficacy Thus, it seems that paternal involvement is positively

related to self-efficacy while paternal strictness is negatively related to self-efficacy, which in turn is positively related to academic performance

The relation between paternal involvement and paternal strictness and the

academic performance mediated by self-efficacy can be expected to differ for

adolescents of different ages In 1996, Paulson and Sputa found that the effect of

paternal practices on adolescent academic achievement was different between younger adolescents and older adolescents The study conducted on fathers and adolescents reported that fathers' involvement in schoolwork/homework decreases from 9th grade to 12th grade The changes of paternal practices across adolescence that may influence adolescents' academic performance can be explained by the rationale of individuation process, cognitive and social changes as well As adolescents grow older, they have stronger work orientation, greater engagement in classroom activities, higher

educational aspirations, more positive feelings about school and more positive academic self-conceptions (Steinberg et al., 1989; Lamborn et al., 1991) Therefore, it is not surprising that parents are less involved or less strict to the older adolescents compared

to the younger ones Also, when parents understand the nature of cognitive change across adolescence, more opportunities are gradually given to them to make their own decision and thus reduce their own involvement in child-rearing, particularly in

adolescents' school work and activities (Steinberg & Silk, 2002) Across adolescence, parents may also find that adolescents tend to seek advice from their peers regarding schoolwork more than with parents, in the sense that peers are more able to help

(Steinberg & Silk, 2002) In view of the different developmental changes that occur across the two age groups, it gives rise to different links for the different age groups Thus for Model 2, there were two hypotheses

• Hypothesis 2a states that paternal involvement and strictness would be positively related to academic performance and these relationships would be mediated by adolescents' perceived self-efficacy

• Hypothesis 2b states that the links between paternal involvement and strictness and academic performance mediated by self-efficacy would change in strength across

the two adolescents' age groups

Measurement Issue

Father's Report versus Adolescent's Report

Much of the existing literature on the father-adolescent relationship relies on the adolescent reporting on all the variables of interest Such a single-source approach is susceptible to the problem of shared method variance (Tein, Roosa & Michaels, 1994) The present study sought to incorporate both adolescents' and fathers' report of fathers' parenting behaviour Such would enable an examination of how adolescents' and

fathers' reports converge or diverge and how the parenting variables, as reported by adolescents and fathers, may be similarly or differently related to aspects of the father-adolescent relationship Improving our understanding on the consistency between fathers' and adolescents' reports is essential As noted by Tein, Roosa and Michaels (1994), parental behaviours are most likely to produce intended consequences only if they are perceived or defined similarly by the child and the parent There are

indications, however, that adolescents' and fathers' report are more likely to diverge than converge, that is the reports by adolescents and fathers tend to differ (Larson & Richards, 1994; Marcos & Draper, 1990)

In a study conducted by Schwarz, Barton-Henry and Pruzinsky (1985) to assess child-rearing behaviour, a comparison was made between parents' and children's

reports The result revealed a low level of agreement between the two reports of

parental behaviour Such finding may imply that parents and children simply did not share the same definitions, or the same experience of parenting behaviour If so, the question then is whether "paternal warmth", for example, means the same thing for fathers and adolescents and whether a distorted picture is obtained if only one party does the reporting On the other hand, it should be noted that adolescents are often influenced by their own perceptions on paternal behaviours rather than those behaviours reported by fathers (Demo, Small & Savin-Williams, 1987)

Thus, across Model 1 and Model 2, a third hypothesis was proposed that the models would be dissimilar depending on whether adolescents' or fathers' reports were used

CHAPTER 2

METHODOLOGY Participants

The sample of the current investigation consisted of 501 students More

specifically, 250 (135 males and 115 females) Primary Six students aged 12 and 251 (122 males and 129 females) Secondary Three students aged 15 participated in this study For comparability in terms of academic ability, we selected Primary Six EM1 (English and Mother-Tongue as first language) / EM2 (English as first language and Mother-Tongue as second language) stream students and Secondary Three Express (taking O Level the following year) stream students All participants were Singaporean Chinese Other nationalities as well as races were not included to avoid cross-cultural and racial differences We also ensured that participants were only from intact families

so as not to introduce complication due to different family dynamics

Participants of the two age groups (12 & 15) were compared on demographic characteristics (see Table 1) Generally, the two age groups have quite a similar

personal background In terms of percentage distribution for all the characteristics, the differences between the two age groups were small Similar numbers of the 12-year-old adolescents (41.2%) and 15-year-old adolescents (40.6%) were first-born children On the other hand, the majority of the younger adolescents (54.4%) had less than two siblings, whereas the majority to the older adolescents (53.8%) had 2 to 4 siblings For both age groups, a highly majority (83.2% of the younger adolescents, 91.6% of the

Table 1

Demographic Characteristics of Adolescents

Characteristics Adolescents aged 12 Adolescents aged 15

Frequency % Frequency % Gender

older adolescents) reported that their fathers were employed full-time About half

(53.2% of the younger adolescents, 48.2% of the older adolescents) reported that their

mothers were not working at all About a third, 37.5% of the older adolescents, 31.6%

Table 2

Demographic Characteristics of Fathers

Characteristics Adolescents aged 12 Adolescents aged 15

Frequency % Frequency % Age

Characteristics Adolescents aged 12 Adolescents aged 15

Frequency % Frequency % Wife's employment status

Fathers of the participants were also involved in this study Altogether, the sample consisted of 404 fathers, yielding a response rate of 80.6% Fathers of the respective adolescent age groups were compared on their personal backgrounds (see Table 2) In general, fathers of the two age groups also have quite a similar personal background Firstly, it was found that majority of the fathers in both groups were aged between 40 to 49 years old (71.3% in the younger adolescent group, 69.7% in the older adolescent group) In terms of educational qualification, most of the younger

adolescents' fathers (41.7%) and older adolescents' fathers (35.9%) reported that they had completed secondary school with O Level or N Level qualification Most of the fathers also reported that they had 2 to 3 children (83.8% of the younger adolescents' fathers, 82.1% of the older adolescents' fathers) The majority (81.3% of the younger adolescents' fathers, 80.5% of older adolescents' fathers) also reported that they had 2 to

3 children who were still schooling The total household income reported by fathers in this study ranged from less than S$1000 to more than S$5500 with most (19.7%) of the younger adolescents' fathers reported earning between S$1000-S$1499 whereas similar numbers of older adolescents' fathers (16.9%) reported earning between S$2000-

S$2499 and S$2500-S$2999 Younger adolescents' fathers reported that 31.6% of their wives were working full-time and 52.6% of them were not working, while older

adolescent's fathers' reported that 36.4% of their wives were working full-time and 50.3% of them were not working Also, 67.0% of the younger adolescents' fathers and 65.1% of the older adolescents' fathers reported that mothers were the primary caregiver

of their children Only 16.7% and 22.1% of the younger and older adolescents' fathers respectively reported themselves as the primary caregiver of their children

Procedure

Permission to conduct the research in the schools was sought by first submitting

an application to the Ministry of Education (MOE) Questionnaires were submitted together for evaluation Once approved, a letter of Ministry consent was sent to the researcher Schools were then contacted and meetings were held to explain the nature of the study to the school principals Assurance was given that all information would be kept confidential

Approximately 20 primary and secondary schools were sent a letter requesting

for their participation in this study However, only 3 secondary schools and 3 primary schools agreed to participate

For actual conduct of the study, arrangements were made in a way that class lessons were not disrupted Therefore, the classes selected by the school principals were either exempted from assembly or participated in the study after school hours Verbal and written instructions on how to complete the questionnaire were given to all student participants before the start of each session It took approximately 30 minutes for the students to complete the questionnaire, with younger students given an extra 10 minutes

to complete the questionnaire Everyone from the selected classes completed the

questionnaire including students of other races and nationality so as to avoid the issue of discrimination For data analysis however, only data from participants who were

Singaporean Chinese were used

Each participant was also asked to bring home the father's questionnaire for his

or her father to complete A cover letter explaining the purpose of the study as well as the instructions were attached together Fathers were given a week to complete the questionnaires, which were then returned to the teachers-in-charge through their

children A Chinese version of the questionnaire (Appendix I) was prepared and

provided for fathers who were not English-educated The English version was first examined and translated carefully by a team of research students and a qualified

Chinese teacher; all of them were fluent in both English and Chinese The Chinese version was then back translated to ensure comparability with the English version About 10% of the fathers who participated requested for the Chinese version The questionnaires for both father and adolescent were given identification numbers so that their respective questionnaires could be later tallied with each other Students'

examination results (for English, Mathematics and Science) were obtained from

teachers

Measures

In this study, the measures used were all based on established ones However, there were some minor modifications made to facilitate better conceptual understanding and applicability to Singapore context Example of items being modified are "When I

make plans, I am certain I can make them work" to "When I really study, I am certain I can do well", and "One of my problem is that I cannot get down to work when I should"

to "One of my problems is that I cannot sit down to do my schoolwork when I should"

Measures of Paternal Behaviour

Paternal behaviour was measured using the Child Report of Parental Behaviour Inventory (CRPBI) adapted from Schludermann and Schludermann (1970) Three dimensions of paternal behaviour were assessed in this study: Warmth, autonomy-granting, and behavioural control

Warmth The measure of warmth consisted of 8 items from the Acceptance

sub-scale of the CRPBI Two versions were created; one for adolescents to report their fathers' warmth, the other for fathers to report their own warmth Items for both versions were kept conceptually equivalent although the phrasing was modified for the different sources of report Examples of items from the adolescent's version are "He smiles at me very often", "He enjoys doing things with me", and "He often speaks of the good things

I do", whereas examples of the corresponding items from the father's version are "I